The Railway Ministry, led by DV Sadananda Gowda, is not averse to hiking the passenger and freight rates, a move announced by his predecessor on the day the election results came, but which was hastily withdrawn.
In a meeting for preparations for the budget, Gowda was informed about the proposal for a hike in passenger and freight charges by his predecessor Mallikarjun Kharge to which the new railway minister was receptive given the present financial condition of Indian Railways. Ministry sources said that the Congress-led UPA’s proposal would now be taken up with the Finance Ministry.
Sources did not rule out the possibility of announcement of a hike in the Railway Budget to be presented by the Narendra Modi Government. The Prime Minister has just a couple of days ago announced that his Government will take some tough decisions to bring the tattered economy back on track.
Kharge had in the interim budget proposed a hike of 5 per cent in freight and 10 per cent in passenger fares but it could not be implemented. later, after the polls were conducted and on the day of counting of votes on May 16, Kharge hurriedly announced the hike for both passenger fares and freight rates by 14.2 per cent and 6.5 per cent respectively under fuel adjustment component (FAC)-linked revision scheme. Kharge’s order mentioned the hike with effect from May 20, 2014.
But facing a humiliating rout, the Manmohan Singh Government withdrew the decision to hike the fares within hours of its announcement. Kharge then directed the decision on the proposed hike in the freight charges and passenger fares to be kept in abeyance till further advice for placing this proposal before the new Government for taking a view/decision in the matter.
Sources said that ministry is also reviewing certain projects languishing for several decades but yet to be delivered for some or the other reasons. While they are being identified, officials said that most of the Rs five lakh crore worth of projects announced by earlier regimes are political in nature and merely announced for the sake of electoral benefits resulting in acute mismatch between the income and expenditure of the railways.
In the budget, the ministry is also focusing on factors of 3S — safety, security and service. Gowda said that if the Government is able to implement 3S successfully, then certainly speed will be the fourth aspect that the ministry would have to work upon. Besides, passengers amenities and quality catering services are also likely to be main focus of the NDA regime.